Q: Why are churches working in isolation today? Everybody is trying to build his own small empire.
A: It is unfortunate that there is a popular trend within the Body of Christ that seems to be more about the individual building their "own small empire." Jesus asked the question, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul (Mark 8:36)?" One thing you may have noticed, that led to your question, is the abundance of pastors and teachers out there that are teaching a gospel of gaining the world. Some call it the prosperity gospel. This is really no gospel at all since its main purpose is to get people focused on indulging their flesh by chasing after the things of this world, namely wealth, instead of being separate from the world in order to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Even worse is the fact that this message teaches people that they need Jesus in order to be successful in this world when there are plenty of unbelievers who are successful in the world and did it apart from Christ. What does that say about our Lord? It reminds me of what Paul said in his letter to the Romans, "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you (Romans 2:24)." When you think about it, if the singular purpose of having faith in Christ is to seek after all the world has to offer what was the point of Jesus Christ coming to this world in the first place?
The problem begins and ends with the definition of the Church. The Church is not an organization, but it is an organism made up of individual believers in Christ located all around the world. Somewhere in time the definition of the Church went from disciples of Christ to membership within an organized religion. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God (1 Corinthians 6:19)? I can't tell you how many times I have attended a service over the years and heard someone say something to the effect of "Welcome to the House of God?" Christians seem to forget that the building they are sitting in is not the house, or temple, of God. But it is that misconception which leads to an unnecessary and unhealthy focus on the building and the denomination that gathers within the building. Have you noticed how immaculate some of these church buildings have become? Many of them resemble modern day palaces or castles, complete with all the amenities you would come to expect inside of one. Therefore, you have pastors and teachers mistakenly believing that the church building is the temple of God and that increasing the numbers is how you grow the so called Body of Christ. Usually, the focus then becomes on how do you fill the church which often leads to a compromised false gospel of worldliness that attracts the masses.
There is not an individual on the planet who isn't suffering in one form or another. Depending on where you go someone is going to be experiencing pain whether it be personal, financial, mental or spiritual. And the message of many of these churches is geared around appealing to this suffering and trying to attract people to the church. The message is one of "come to my church and I will tell you how to maximize your pleasure and minimize your pain." Thus, you see these "empires," as you called them, stuffed with thousands of people all focused on one man who is the benefactor of all these attendees. However, that is the exact opposite of what scripture commands. As I mentioned earlier, the individual believer is the Church and, in keeping with the Great Commission, it is the individual who is to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)." We, as individuals, are to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world through our interactions with people on a daily basis. The Great Commission is not to build bigger and better sanctuaries designed to attract people to them. When this is the case you will have people putting more faith in their church then they have in Jesus Christ. Thus, you have the isolated churches more focused on nickels and noses (money and membership) then they are focused on advancing the Gospel.
At the root of these empires are more than likely false teachers trying to use Christianity as their vehicle to achieve worldly gain. And they attract many people with the same goal in mind. The Bible says to avoid a teacher like this because they "have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain (1 Timothy 6:5)." And the reason they have huge empires is because what they teach attracts people who are not concerned with sound biblical teaching. "Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3)." Your average person doesn't want to hear the truth that they are dead in sin and in need of the life of God through faith in Jesus Christ. They want someone to tell them how to get the things they want from the world. Thus, these teachers twist scripture and play on the emotions of their congregants to give them what they want to hear so, in turn, they can receive what they want from the people; riches, wealth and honor. My advice to you is to keep working on your relationship with Jesus Christ, learning to live a life of trust and dependence on Him. By doing that the Lord can use you to effect the world in ways that these large "empires" will never do.
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